Condition Evolution 2: A LitRPG / Gamelit Adventure

by Kevin Sinclair

  “The Torax has sour relations with the Mazltor, too. They are quite often involved in anything money or commerce-related and they’ve been responsible for a lot of the harsher financial restrictions of my planet. So much so, it would be best if I remain on the ship this time. I’ll not receive a warm welcome on Necrus.”

  “Okay, Calegg. That’s fine. Hopefully we’ll not need to spend much time down there. We can take the landing craft. I’m sure Elyek can pilot that, okay?”

  “Yes. That won’t be a problem. Although, I’ll need to remain cloaked still when we’re outside the ship.”

  “Well, at least we have a picture of sorts. Now, we’d all best get some sleep before we get there and to leave enough time for Calegg to rest.”

  “I’ll take over in six hours if that is okay, Calegg. I don’t require much sleep,” Elyek said.

  “Sure, that’s great, Elyek. I’ll see you then. Night, guys,” Calegg said, as he almost shooed us off the bridge.

  Ember and I went to the captain’s quarters. We had seen them on our tour of the ship. Nevertheless, it was different when you had the chance to finally move in. Yeah, we had no stuff yet, apart from our weapons, but I was looking forward to rolling about in the bed and taking a shit on a really nice toilet. You know that kind of stuff. We could really make it our own.

  Ember threw herself on to the bed, but I wanted to try the shower out first. I hadn’t had a proper shower in god-knows-how-long: The Thoth had powder showers, and the last ship had the equivalent of a leaky tap. But this beauty had both a powder shower and a real highly pressured shower. I turned it on and marveled at the power of the water coming out.

  By the time I climbed into our bed, Ember was fast asleep. Hugging into her, I soon followed.

  C17

  A deal with the Devil

  It was a real shame to have to leave Calegg behind. Even so, he had warned us again that the Mazltor would treat us differently if he was there. Their being of similar racial chemical makeup seemed to be a point of antagonism rather than friendship.

  “It’s for the best, I think,” Elyek said. “Do we really want to leave our new, one-million-senlar spaceship floating untended in space? We should also consider the possibility of us needing a quick getaway.”

  “You make very valid points,” Ember said to Elyek.

  With that sorted, we took the small shuttle towards Necrus. The ever skillful and useful Elyek was flying confidently. As we got closer to the planet, I noticed the air space - no - the space... space? Fuck it! The area around Necrus, was much more built-up than any of the other planets we had already been to. There were all kinds of ships, space stations, and other crap. I had no idea what most of it was.

  “Attention, Uprising: Please state your business on Necrus,” sounded a voice over the communication device.

  “We are looking to visit the Juntos bank and hire some crew on your fine planet,” Elyek replied.

  “Sure,” came the response. “How many on board?”

  “Currently, three crew members.”

  “Okay, Uprising. Docking Bay three hundred and ninety. Nice and close to the Juntos main branch for you. I’m sending over coordinates now. Enjoy your visit.”

  We all let out a collective sigh. It looked like the Uprising hadn’t been marked as of yet.

  Elyek navigated through all the space traffic easily, and docked very smoothly.

  I was beginning to think they might be a much better pilot than Calegg. Not that it mattered. Elyek was always on hand to help if needed.

  I did a quick comms check with Calegg to make sure we were still in touch. His voice came back clearly. I was happy with that, as we had learned our lesson of not having communicators once before. We stood next to the exit of the ship, and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. We were as prepared as best as we could be for the completely-unknown. We wouldn’t be able to carry weapons here openly, according to Elyek, especially firearms, which wasn’t a problem for our odd band of misfits. We all wore hooded cloaks, which was not uncommon, though only Elyek had their hood up and carried a couple of concealed knives. Ember wore the sword we had taken from the Fystr in a scabbard on her hip, hidden well by the cloak. and I had Havok on my back. He was covered in cloth wrapping so you could not tell what he was.

  With bated breath, we left the ship, Elyek leading the way. We were stopped by the dock guard, as Elyek predicted. I could see what made the Mazltor race recognizable now. They were basically fucking demons. The two guards were huge, scary bastards with a really dark-blue skin and black markings. They had horns protruding from their foreheads. I assumed they were of the Tri-bor caste.

  We were made to go through a scanner.

  “No firearms on Necrus. If you have any, please return them to your ship,” one of the guards said. When no one moved back towards the ship, he gestured to a metal doorframe. “Please step through here,” he continued. I just couldn’t pair this genial, very normal persona, coming out of this hulking monstrosity of a demon.

  We all stepped through, and thankfully none of our weapons set off the machine.

  “What is that?” he asked, pointing at the heavily wrapped Havok on my back.

  “It’s an antique axe. I’m looking to sell here if I can find the right buyer,” I said, as if I was carefree. I wasn’t. I was stressed to bits.

  “That’s okay. Be warned against using it. That would be a jail sentence. I will mark it down against your ship and name.” He pulled out an electronic pad.

  “Name?”

  “Shaun Sutherland.”

  “Captain’s name? “

  “Shaun Sutherland”

  He gave me a, ‘Well done, smart ass’, kind of look. “Okay. That will do. Enjoy your visit.”

  And with that, we were off to the bank.

  Necrus was like nothing I could have ever imagined. The sheer size and scope of the urban jungle was awe-inspiring. The whole place was hyper-modern, crossed with gothic architecture.

  I was so glad Elyek was at least a little confident here because I was bewildered, and I reckoned Ember was the same. We walked through the packed streets. The majority of the aliens around us were three-foot demons, with rapidly-beating miniature wings on their back. They didn’t fly high, or particularly fast, but they all buzzed about busily a few feet from the ground. Elyek told us these were the Im-bor.

  We finally arrived at the bank. It gave a whole new meaning to impressive grandeur. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was like a Tsar's palace.

  The foyer was a huge, domed area with ornate desks lined all around the circular periphery of the room. As we stood near the entrance, Elyek leaned over to talk, “We will need to speak to an upper-manager for this withdrawal.” It seemed like their earlier confidence was beginning to ebb away.

  “Come on,” Ember said enthusiastically. “We're here. Let’s do this.” She marched over to a desk without a customer. There was an Im-bor behind the desk. This close up, I got a good look. He had a fine set of long, sharp canines in a fake and very unnerving smile.

  “Hello, fine and valued customers. How may I be of assistance today?”

  We all stood waiting for each other to talk, but nobody did. All in all, it was a bit embarrassing. Me being me, I jumped in without thinking too much about it - Probably both my best and worst quality rolled into one.

  “We need to speak to a senior manager about a high-value account,” I said, proud of my recovery.

  “Of course. And which account would that be?”

  “I would like to keep that private until I’ve spoken to senior management.”

  “Without an account name, I am afraid I cannot approach my seniors.”

  I turned to the crew. “Shit. What now?” I whispered, though I had no doubt the Im-bor heard.

  “I will give him my name, but this is where things may get interesting. Are we ready for this?” Elyek said quietly.

  “Sure. Let’s do it,” I said, and Ember nodded in agreemen
t. Elyek stepped forwards.

  “The account name is under Elisialor Yekandistripolisiumar”

  I looked to Ember in surprise at Elyek’s real name. She shrugged back, and she was right. It didn’t matter what their real name was, and there was no way I could pronounce that anyway. The clerk typed upon his terminal. After a couple of seconds, he looked up, “I will go and inform the manager.” He quickly took off from his seat, his wings beating so fast I could only see a blur.

  We all stood there on edge, waiting for whatever would happen next. Finally, a large alien came over. This one was completely black with red streaks on his visible skin. He was a minimum of seven-feet-tall. Despite the demonic appearance and towering height, he wore a smart suit and a pair of glasses. I assumed we’d finally met a member of the Mazltor leadership caste, an Ang-bor.

  “Good day to you. Elisialor Yekandistripolisiumar, I assume,” he said to Elyek. “If you would like to follow me. Your friends can wait in the foyer.”

  I was about to jump in and say, ‘No fucking chance,’ but Elyek did it for me, “These people are my business partners. They must be present for good reason.”

  “Very well, if you insist. Though I will have to have security present while we discuss our business.”

  “I assume measures will be taken so that we can conduct our meeting with confidentiality,” Elyek replied.

  “Certainly. We can ensure that we are not overheard.”

  “So be it. Please lead the way.”

  The manager spoke into a small mic on his suit jacket, then led us off out of the main area and into a corridor. We walked all the way to the end where we found a room by itself with a massive, heavy door.

  On entering, we found that the walls of the room were filled with Tri-bor. I did a quick count. There were fifteen of them, all carrying heavy laser rifles and decked out in some serious body armor. We had seen a couple of Tri-bor at the docks, but these were like a few levels up from those guys. These motherfuckers had muscles on top of their muscles, built along the lines of Jotun.

  “Don’t worry,” Havok said into my mind. “We can fuck these dudes up. No danger.” Now I’d like to think I’d grown in confidence recently, but I did not like the look of these guys one bit.

  The manager took a seat behind his giant, ornately carved, ebony desk and gestured for us to take seats. Everyone sat but me. Aside from Havok on my back, I wanted to be ready for anything.

  “What is it I can do for you today?”

  “I wish to withdraw the entirety of my account,” Elyek said. The manager raised a bristly eyebrow at that.

  “I fear carrying such a sum upon your person would be very risky under the present circumstances.”

  “How so?” Elyek asked.

  “Well, you have been flagged as having a rather large bounty on your head. There are also criminal charges set against you. Luckily for you, they have not been verified by the galactic courts. Otherwise, you would be unable to withdraw anything at all, and your accounts would be frozen.”

  “I’m willing to take the risk. If I leave the money in my account, I will lose it all. I have no doubt these false charges will be made to stick.”

  “Yes. I imagine they will, as is usually the way. Perhaps, I could suggest an alternative to your predicament. Your friends are not as yet considered criminals. I would suggest if you have trust in them, you transfer the money into one of their accounts.”

  We quickly discussed the pros and cons of such an arrangement and had to agree it would be hard to move five million senlar from the bank to the ship.

  “I agree in principle, but won’t such a transfer be traceable?” Elyek asked.

  “For a small fee, I could ensure it will be untraceable. I could, at great expense to myself, route the transfer through a few different accounts. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in?”

  We huddled together and discussed it amongst ourselves, again.

  “Yes. This is agreeable to us if it can be done. Obviously, depending on your fee,” Elyek said.

  “My fee? Half-a-million,” he smiled.

  “Yes. Okay,” Elyek said without preamble. I was shocked by their lack of hesitation. I probably would have said no automatically. I didn’t really trust this greedy bastard.

  On a whim, I entered his mind. He looked at me suddenly, even though I had said nothing and was silent in my approach. We stared at each other intensely, then I said into his mind, “We will pay but do not fuck us over, or I will find you and I will kill you.” He raised his eyebrow at me, no doubt surprised at my wicked skills, I imagine.

  “You have my word that I will not double-cross you. Now, let me arrange the necessary documents,” he said out loud. He may not have been able to reply with telepathy.

  “Who will be taking over the funds? I will need a name for the account.”

  “Can we set up a business account which we all have access to? Without naming Elyek of course,” I asked.

  “Why, yes! A truly excellent idea,” he replied, altogether too happy for my tastes. I felt like I’d made a mistake.

  “Name of Company please?” he continued.

  “Uprising,” Ember said, jumping in.

  “What she said,” I added.

  “Okay, bear with me a moment.” He began typing on the terminal furiously. After fifteen minutes of silence - other than the incessant tapping on the terminal - he looked up again. “I’ll need a CEO name, and it has to be your real name. Otherwise, you will almost definitely encounter problems accessing the funds at a later date. It has to be accompanied with a retinal scan which can be used to confirm your identity at any of our branches.” He held out a pad with a load of gibberish. I took it, then quickly handed it to Elyek, “Can you fill this in for me please? I’ve forgotten my glasses.” They looked at me strangely, but took it and quickly filled it in.

  Elyek handed me the form and said, “You need to sign the bottom, here. Then, press this button and hold it up a foot from your face.”

  I did as Elyek said, and a gentle blue light shone on my face. I handed it back over to the manager. He went through a few more things, took two signatures and retinal scans from Elyek, then apparently it was done.

  “Well, it has been a pleasure doing business with you,” he said. He handed three tokens over for each of us to access the account and continued, “Everything is in order. You may go.” It was a very abrupt ending that made my hackles rise.

  “Okay. Thanks for your time,” Ember said, and we stood up to leave.

  “One moment, Elyek,” the bank manager said just before we could leave and went on, “Could you stay back for a moment.”

  “Get ready, Havok,” I thought quickly to the axe.

  “I was born ready, baby,” Havok replied.

  Then, I replied for Elyek, “I’m afraid not.”

  The manager nodded to the monstrous security aliens and they began to move, raising their weapons.

  “I’m afraid I must insist. There is quite a bit of prestige and money for capturing our dear Elyek here.”

  “You really don’t want to do this,” I warned.

  “Oh please. Hand over the Veiletian and I’ll let you go on your way. You have the money. Why sacrifice your lives for someone you barely know?” He turned to face Elyek. “Come here, or we will open fire on your friends.”

  “Do your thing,” I whispered to Elyek. Without a second thought, they suddenly disappeared.

  The manager roared angrily, “Fine, you can both die!” To be fair to him, he had a fucking terrifying roar.

  While he screamed, Havok had already landed in my hand. My cloak fell to the floor. In the next instant, the room descended into hell. On reflection, it was an apt description considering the demons. Laser shots started firing and Havok started whirling in his wrappings, which soon fell to the floor, destroyed by the onslaught.

  Ember knew her best position was behind me and Havok as we deflected every shot that came towards us. I couldn’t g
et close to any of the guards spread out all around us on three sides. Not without risking Ember’s safety.

  The Tri-bor didn’t let up their attack. I could tell they were surprised at my defense but they must have thought it was only a matter of time before I ran out of steam and made a mistake. What they didn’t realize was that Ember was far from defenseless. She brought out her sword, charged its blade, and threw it upwards into the middle of the room. Everyone’s attention turned to the sword. This was quickly followed by laser fire, which caused no damage to the protected blade. It did send it spinning wildly around in the air as it began to fall, when, suddenly, it took off like a bullet, skewering one Tri-bor guard straight through the eye. Grey blood that smelt oddly of burning charcoal spurted everywhere as she yanked it back out. The guard’s body fell to the floor. With one enemy out of the fight, she then sent the sword off towards another guard. A few others started firing at it with little effect.

  This made my job of protecting Ember much easier. I saw the Ang-bor bank manager scurry under the desk as shit turned crazy. I just kept my focus, swinging tirelessly, charged by a flow of energy from Havok. The next thing I noticed was a thick line of grey blood appearing across a guards throat as he fell to his knees. I smiled a grim smile. Elyek had joined the party. Between them they managed to thin the guard’s numbers until I was able to get involved. I had just killed a Tri-bor when I saw Ember’s sword fall. I turned and saw her lying on the ground. A massive gaping wound in her abdomen. The manager stood next to his desk holding a laser pistol, which was now pointed at me. The bastard had somehow managed to sneak around the back of us.

  Blood was pouring out of Ember terrifyingly fast.

  “Help her, Havok. Do anything!” I screamed out loud and threw him towards Ember. He guided himself over.